


Reverence

by lambkt



Category: Lore Olympus (Webcomic)
Genre: Loss, Sad Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 16:46:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21274442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lambkt/pseuds/lambkt
Summary: This came from a sad place.Thank you Swoonie and Sickly for your unwavering support, you both mean the world to me.





	Reverence

**Author's Note:**

> This came from a sad place. 
> 
> Thank you Swoonie and Sickly for your unwavering support, you both mean the world to me.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and rested them on the floor. On this particular day even the wood under his feet didn’t dare groan in protest. The entire universe around him was silent. 

Hades didn’t want to get up. 

It was the same every year. He went through the motions: shower, coffee, teeth brushed, dogs fed. He ran his fingers through his silver hair and straightened his tie once more before grabbing his keys and heading out. 

The wind possessed a colder bite today, shaking his car and threatening to pull it off the asphalt. The rain fell hard in every direction. He paid it no mind, but somewhere inside of him a storm howled in the same manner, and he knew he was the cause. 

On the outskirts of the Underworld, a bakery glowed out into the darkness, cutting through him deep, like a warm knife with a jagged edge. In a way, it was comforting because it was also familiar. But there was also a weighted sadness to it; it was tangible, and he was slowly fracturing underneath it, even if he didn’t want to. He was a _King_. Kings don’t fracture. 

As he drew closer to the bakery, the sole relief he was granted were the lush smells of newly baked pastries. His was waiting on the counter, as it had been on this day every year for the last thousand years or so, wrapped neatly in a black box with a bow. He left a twenty on the counter, and the silent promise that he would see them next year. 

It was a short walk from the bakery that he found it, nestled between two large rock formations on the very border between Olympus and the Underworld. The light hardly reached here, making it nearly impossible for anything to grow, especially on the edge of the sunless realm, but one thing managed. A large silver fir stood tall and reverent, a reminder to all of what must not be forgotten going forwards. 

The only noise that could be heard while he walked was that of the frozen ground beneath his leather shoes; even the wind seemed to have ceased its fitful gusting, yet a chill still managed to crawl up his spine as he approached it

He knelt at the foot of the tree and unwrapped the box carefully with long fingers. Slowly, as if it were glass, he pulled out a red cupcake with white frosting and a single candle. 

Hades set the cupcake safely between the roots, and pulled a matchbook from his jacket.

“Hi, Mom,” he whispered, fishing out a match and striking it. With shaking fingers he lit the candle as a tear broke free and rolled down his cheek, leaving a burning trail in its wake. “Happy birthday.”

For a moment he stayed; blindly, erroneously hopeful that maybe Rhea would materialize out of the bark of the tree and wrap him in a tight hug. What he wouldn’t give for just _one more_. It was the same as every year.

As he stood, soft sobs racking his body. He was a lost boy, broken and aching. She didn’t come, and he inwardly scolded himself for being so hopeful for something that wasn’t possible. Even so, his heart broke all the same. 

Hades wiped his tears and walked away, standing straighter with every step. He had no choice, he was a king. 

He had to be _okay_.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday, Dad.


End file.
